Buying Canadian

[VanIsle]

This is an email I received today. Can you buy "Canadian"?

Hello, I think this one is worth passing on…especially since the USA is preaching to their citizens to buy American. It is time we Canadians see the light!


Subject: Fw: 1 bulb at a time.

A physics teacher in high school, once told the students that while one grasshopper on the railroad tracks wouldn't slow a train very much, a billion of them would. With that thought in mind, read the following, obviously written by a good Canadian.
Good idea . . . one light bulb at a time . . . .

Check this out. I can verify this because I was in Lowe's the other day for some reason and just for the heck of it I was looking at the hose attachments. They were all made in China. The next day I was in Home Hardware and just for the heck of it I checked the hose attachments there. They were made in Canada. Start looking.

In our current economic situation, every little thing we buy or do affects someone else - even their job. So, after reading this email, I think this lady is on the right track. Let's get behind her!

My grandson likes Hershey's candy.. I noticed, though, that it is marked made in Mexico now. I do not buy it any more. My favorite toothpaste Colgate is made in Mexico now. I have switched to Crest… You have to read the labels on everything.

This past weekend I was at Wal-mart. I needed 60W light bulbs. I was in the light bulb aisle, and right next to the GE brand I normally buy was an off brand labeled, "Everyday Value. " I picked up both types of bulbs and compared the stats - they were the same except for the price. The GE bulbs were more money than the Everyday Value brand but the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that GE was made in MEXICO and the Everyday Value brand was made in - get ready for this -in Canada in a company in Ontario.

So throw out the myth that you can not find products you use every day that are made right here.

My challenge to you is to start reading the labels when you shop for everyday things and see what you can find that is made in Canada - the job you save may be your own or your neighbors!

If you accept the challenge, pass this on to others in your address book so we can all start buying Canadian, one light bulb at a time! Stop buying from overseas companies!

(We should have awakened a decade ago . . . . .. .)

Let's get with the program . . . . Help our fellow Canadians keep their jobs and create more jobs here in Canada.

 

[VanIsle]

This is about buying Canadian but it's also about helping fellow Canadians keep their jobs. I know some people like the self scan stores that are popping up everywhere. For a brief period, the store I work at even had the workers convinced that the self scan would not take away jobs.
What do you think about a store that has 5 regular tills and 6 self scans and you enter, shop, want to pay and there is only one or two regular tills open? People are extremely angry about two things. They don't like the length of time it takes them to go through the self scan (they try to do big orders) and they really really get totally irate about the fact that there is no longer an "Express".
Until the self scans came in we were a busy busy store. People are backing away and jobs (hours)are being lost. I have been told that I am never to make a customer feel they are suspected of being a thief. For myself and all other cashiers who "man" the self scans, we all feel the store is being robbed in a manner of speaking, several times daily. It doesn't take long at all to figure out how to steal via the self scans. The theft is going to cause a rise in prices for one thing and the self scans (non-personal services)will replace jobs. People who have been working there for over 5 years are beginning to lose hours of work.
The anger displayed by those who feel they are being forced into using a service they don't want is extremely stressful for the person manning the self scan. People say and do horrible things. They actually become quite abusive and many vow to never shop at the store again. At a time when we should be reasonably busy, we are slow. People are going to stores where food costs more because they want the personal touch. They not only loudly announce they are never coming back. I see them in the other stores so I know they say what they mean and mean what they say.

 

[AnnaG]

Yeah, Walmart is pretty much the same, they get the cheapest stuff for the cheapest price, usually imported.
I'm not going to quit drinking foreign beer and wines (besides the local we get), though.

 

[talloola]

I will check all labels from this moment on, something I used to do, but haven't
for some time, I'll start again.

Thanks

 

[Kakato]

Good idea,us oldtimers saw it coming,chinese products are only made to last a short time and you get what you pay for mostly.

My dad had the hardware store in my small town back in the 60,s and I got to see chinese products overtaking ours mostly cuz of the price.
We sold every single thing you could want and it slowly was getting replaced by imports.Cheap inferior products.

Back in my union days we pushed buy local yet you would see all the brothers at wal mart the next day stocking up on cheap goods.:roll:

 

[Liberalman]

Buy Canadian will bring the jobs back to Canada the globel economy does not work.

It's time for Canadians to take back their country

 

[talloola]

Yeah, Walmart is pretty much the same, they get the cheapest stuff for the cheapest price, usually imported.
I'm not going to quit drinking foreign beer and wines (besides the local we get), though.

It's nice to think that walmart's stock is inferior to others, but only some of it is.
I shop there and have learned that if you study their merchandise thoroughly they have some very good quality stock if you look for it. I have quite a few pieces of clothing in my closet now, bought from walmart, very nice quality,
well made, good style, 'they' are there, amongst the lesser 'wear'. My husband
buys some things from the sporting,automotive, good quality, and not always
cheaper, but comparitive to others.
Good work clothing as well.
I bought myself and my husband a pair of jeans each, two years ago, at the end
of the season sale, had to go back and take a second look,
couldn't believe it, $4.00 each, we still have them, just like new, good quality.

 

[#juan]

One piece of advice: Don't buy appliances from Walmart. In a couple weeks they won't handle that brand anymore. Their warranty usually lasts untill your lights are out of sight.
Over the years I've driven many miles to buy Canadian. I see no reason to change that.

 

[AnnaG]

It's nice to think that walmart's stock is inferior to others, but only some of it is.
I shop there and have learned that if you study their merchandise thoroughly they have some very good quality stock if you look for it. I have quite a few pieces of clothing in my closet now, bought from walmart, very nice quality,
well made, good style, 'they' are there, amongst the lesser 'wear'. My husband
buys some things from the sporting,automotive, good quality, and not always
cheaper, but comparitive to others.
Good work clothing as well.
I bought myself and my husband a pair of jeans each, two years ago, at the end
of the season sale, had to go back and take a second look,
couldn't believe it, $4.00 each, we still have them, just like new, good quality.

Yeah, that's why I used the word "usually". It isn't all crap nor is it all imported.

 

[karrie]

Yeah, Walmart is pretty much the same, they get the cheapest stuff for the cheapest price, usually imported.
I'm not going to quit drinking foreign beer and wines (besides the local we get), though.

I did step outside my norm and buy some naked grape and some peller estates last night.

 

[#juan]

Yeah, that's why I used the word "usually". It isn't all crap nor is it all imported.

This thread started out with almost a patriotic sound to it. Now we wanna sell the country for $4.00 jeans while the Americans are urging "buy American". No thanks. I with try to buy Canadian Like I always have.

 

[AnnaG]

This thread started out with almost a patriotic sound to it. Now we wanna sell the country for $4.00 jeans while the Americans are urging "buy American". No thanks. I with try to buy Canadian Like I always have.

Yeah. Same here, Juan. We've been buying as close to local as we can for quite a while.
Usually the local stuff is better quality anyway. We'd rather spend a few bucks more on something that lasts.

 

[karrie]

This thread started out with almost a patriotic sound to it. Now we wanna sell the country for $4.00 jeans while the Americans are urging "buy American". No thanks. I with try to buy Canadian Like I always have.

The $4.00 jeans are Canadian sometimes. :lol:

I shop an assortment of places, and buy Canadian where I can. No stress, no big flip out if someone else needs or wants to buy something less expensive.

 

[talloola]

This thread started out with almost a patriotic sound to it. Now we wanna sell the country for $4.00 jeans while the Americans are urging "buy American". No thanks. I with try to buy Canadian Like I always have.

Yeah those $4.00 jeans were made in China, but that was not the price when they came into the store, just an old stock sale price, I think original price was
about $35.00
I can't afford 80.00 jeans, and I won't buy cheap, ugly jeans, so I grabbed them
quickly, and am happy for it, I would not have purchased them for $35.00,
wouldn't even have noticed them.

It's nice to think we should all buy canadian, but when one strolls about town,
through the small merchants stores, clothes are very expensive, I never buy any of them, and I often wonder how they stay in business, as there never seems to
be anyone in those stores. Shopping at Zellers or Super Store is OK, but lots of 'cheap looking' stock there as well.
I do buy all of my groceries at Safeway, more expensive than some, but they
have the air miles, and that is paying for most of our up coming trip, and
without that we would not be taking that particular trip.
How about canadian tire, what country is on most of their labels?

 

[Machjo]

Be careful what yu wish for.

Mussolini preached economic self-sufficiency too. When he'd come to power, Italy was dependent on wheat imports, so he decided to launch the 'battle for wheat' campaign, whereby Italian farmers were expected to stop growing their cash crops and start growing wheat instead. He did win that battle, but farmers also saw a decline in their overall wealth because previously they could make more profit on the cash crops, import the wheat with a portion of those profits, and still be left with money left over. After the battle for wheat, they had the wheat, but none of the extra profits.

Are we really that desirous to repeat the mistakes of history? I'd rather we produce what we produce best and import the rest. We have a more highly educated population than many other countries on average, so let's use that education to produce higher value goods and import the rest, rather than waste that education away producing things other o****ries can produce at a fraction of the price. There's no point striving for self sufficiency in banana production in Canada's far north now is there.

Insted, perhaps we could compete by having the government invest in our educaiton, provide high-quality training for the unemployed so as to put them back into high-value jobs, and import the rest. This way we could create a mutually beneficial relationship with other countries, allowing each country to produce what it produces best and then share it with the rest.

Would that not make more sense than to open up banana and guava and pineapple greenhouses in Iqaluit?

 

[AnnaG]

Be careful what yu wish for.

Mussolini preached economic self-sufficiency too. When he'd come to power, Italy was dependent on wheat imports, so he decided to launch the 'battle for wheat' campaign, whereby Italian farmers were expected to stop growing their cash crops and start growing wheat instead. He did win that battle, but farmers also saw a decline in their overall wealth because previously they could make more profit on the cash crops, import the wheat with a portion of those profits, and still be left with money left over. After the battle for wheat, they had the wheat, but none of the extra profits.

Are we really that desirous to repeat the mistakes of history? I'd rather we produce what we produce best and import the rest. We have a more highly educated population than many other countries on average, so let's use that education to produce higher value goods and import the rest, rather than waste that education away producing things other o****ries can produce at a fraction of the price. There's no point striving for self sufficiency in banana production in Canada's far north now is there.

Insted, perhaps we could compete by having the government invest in our educaiton, provide high-quality training for the unemployed so as to put them back into high-value jobs, and import the rest. This way we could create a mutually beneficial relationship with other countries, allowing each country to produce what it produces best and then share it with the rest.

Would that not make more sense than to open up banana and guava and pineapple greenhouses in Iqaluit?

:roll: Well, obviously we should use a little discretion. It's pretty tough to build a jewellery box from Canadian grown zebrawood or amboyna (rather than cherry or oak that we CAN grow and process here).

If a Canadian product is available we should use it. If we don't feed local markets all we end up with is foreign stuff and pressure on the gov'ts to spend our dollars on enforcing the usage of Canadian stuff. And government interference is ludicrous at best.
I don't know about lately but when we were in the Okanagan, it cost more to buy a Okanagan apple in the Okanagan than it cost to buy an Okanagan apple that had been packaged in WA and shipped back to the Okanagan. That's just freaking stupid, IMO, and it was a direct result of political interference.

 

[Machjo]

:roll: Well, obviously we should use a little discretion. It's pretty tough to build a jewellery box from Canadian grown zebrawood or amboyna (rather than cherry or oak that we CAN grow and process here).

If a Canadian product is available we should use it. If we don't feed local markets all we end up with is foreign stuff and pressure on the gov'ts to spend our dollars on enforcing the usage of Canadian stuff. And government interference is ludicrous at best.
I don't know about lately but when we were in the Okanagan, it cost more to buy a Okanagan apple in the Okanagan than it cost to buy an Okanagan apple that had been packaged in WA and shipped back to the Okanagan. That's just freaking stupid, IMO, and it was a direct result of political interference.

If Canada produced nothing, our money would quickly become worthless, meaning we could no longer import anything, thus forcing us into self-sufficiency.

We actually do produce alot. We extract natural resources. Granted it's not sustainable in the long term, but it's something for now. Then we 'export' education. Canada's universities are visited by more foreign students than those of many other countries in the world. We export culture through our publishing industries, music CDs from our world-renouned singers. We produced the Canadarm. We produce and export locomotive technologies, cars, etc. etc. etc.

Don't think we don't produce anything.

 

[Machjo]

I'm just saying I see nothing wrong with us exporting what we make best and immport the rest. Nothing wrong with that in the least.

 

[AnnaG]

I'm just saying I see nothing wrong with us exporting what we make best and immport the rest. Nothing wrong with that in the least.

Nope, but as someone (Tonnington, I think) said we rely heavily on raw products instead of developing those products and then selling them and gov'ts seem to prefer that as the status quo. I think the concept is in the one about scientific research & tech cutbacks.

 

[Kakato]

When the old man first had our hardware store everything was Canadian,the bikes,toro snowblowers,chainsaws,all made in Canada,slowly the imports started filtering in,Japan was first,then China.

Soon it was all mass produced crap but it was cheap.
That was around the time Pierre was PM and I do think there was some measures passed about Canadian products sold here being made in Canada.

Then stuff was labeled made in Canada,assembled in the phillipines.